Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence, and Security

Lord Haw-Haw

█ ADRIENNE WILMOTH LERNER

Lord Haw-Haw was the nickname of Nazi propagandist and broadcaster William
Joyce. During World War II, Joyce broadcast a well-known English-language
propaganda show from Berlin, often taunting Allied forces. Though never
calling himself Lord Haw-Haw on air, he became infamous among Allied
combat troops and British citizens.

Joyce was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of an Irish father and
English mother. His family returned to England when he was an infant. As
an adult, Joyce joined several radical political organizations, including
the British Fascisti. He wrote a series of articles for several extremist
newspapers and gained a reputation as a skilled propagandist. In 1934, he
served as the Director of Propaganda for the British Union of Fascists.
While serving the political organization, Joyce donned full Blackshirt
uniform and engaged in a number of street fights with protestors, earning
his trade mark facial scar in one scuffle.

As Joyce gained power in the organization, he became more radical. He used
his position as a platform for his deeply anti-Semitic views, blaming most
of the era's political and social ills on "Jewish
communists." He formed his own political party, the British
National Socialist League, in 1937. The party proclaimed brotherhood with
the Nazi party in Germany and championed similar causes.

Before the war, Joyce did not attempt to disguise his admiration for
Adolph Hitler and Nazi policies. On August 26, 1939, Joyce fled to Berlin.
He narrowly escaped arrest in Britain under a law that mandated the
detention of Nazi sympathizers and political activists. Shortly after
arriving in Berlin, Joyce formally joined the Nazi Party. He took a job
working on an anti-Allied propagandist radio show.

British journalists were quick to dismiss Joyce's broadcasts and
portrayed him a mere stooge. He was dubbed "Lord Haw-Haw"
because of his distinct nasal drawl. Listening to Lord Haw-Haw's
show was technically prohibited in Britain under a ban on enemy radio, but
the show was popular on the British home front. The program drew strong
denunciation, but many simply laughed at its absurdity and obviously
propagandistic content. On a few occasions, the program managed to
frighten listeners with discussions of German saboteurs in Britain and
with accurate details of British towns, such as descriptions of belfries
and landmarks.

At the war's end, Joyce fled Berlin and broadcast his final shows
from Hamburg. When allied forces moved to occupy the city, Joyce retreated
to nearby Flensburg and was captured. He was shot in the leg in the
process of trying to escape into a patch of woods. Joyce was turned over
to British authorities and detained until he was flown back to Britain as
a prisoner.

The British government passed a new Treason Act of 1945 in order to
prosecute citizens who seriously impeded or compromised the British war
effort. The media attention surrounding Joyce's radio program and
capture, as well as their portrayal of Joyce as a possible spy, encouraged
the government to charge Joyce with treason under the new act. Although
the courts could not substantiate charges of espionage, they did convict
Joyce of treason based on his broadcasts and voluntary association and
cooperation with Nazi officials. Joyce was sentenced to death by gallows
and executed on January 3, 1946.